


The Wait

by ItsaVikingThing



Series: Elements in Balance [9]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Book 3: Change, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Set during The Stakeout, Some very slight fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 08:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13677894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: Korra and the gang are on the trail of Aiwei.But while Mako and Bolin hunt for him, Korra and Asami have to wait in a silence that's been uncomfortable since Zaheer's attack in Zaofu.Korra is bad at waiting. Asami is too good at silence.Something has to give.





	The Wait

Korra needs to do something.

She's sitting on a rock on a ridge in a desert, staring at a small town in the valley below, carefully not thinking beyond this thought: she is going to take down Zaheer and his crew. There is no room for anything else right now. If she doesn't focus on this, on this one thing, she'll unravel.

The problem is, it's been an hour since Mako and Bolin went into town to track down their only lead and Korra has been sitting here, waiting in the desert heat, and she needs to _do_ something.

Asami is silent behind her.

Korra hugs her knee.

She woke up in Asami's arms yesterday. That...should have been a good thing. It should have been joyous. But Korra had a dry mouth and a headache from the drug Zaheer used to knock her out and all the fear that the drug kept her from feeling the night before was only waiting for her in the morning.

She had Asami, and Naga, and her terror that morning. So she's been chasing her fury since then, clinging to it, because if she doesn't, if she lets go, she'll drown in all the fear that's haunted her since Amon, since she was a child, since forever.

"Why can't I get past this stupid..." 

She says it quietly, not meaning to say anything at all, and she clenches her teeth and hopes that Asami didn't hear her.

Behind her, Asami says nothing.

Korra waits, breathing carefully, trying to slow her racing heart. The sweat she at least can put down to the relentless sun.

She needs to do...something! Anything! Anything but sit here and...

Asami is behind her.

Korra hugs her knee and watches and breathes the hot air.

Minutes pass slowly, each more stubborn and spiteful than the last.

Suddenly, Asami says, "Korra? We're out of water."

Korra blinks. She looks over her shoulder. "Huh?"

Asami is tall and pale and Korra somehow always forgets how beautiful she is, because it should be impossible to be that beautiful. Because surely it's only the imperfection of memory and Korra's own desire that makes Asami seem so beautiful, but no. It's a shock, a thrill, every time, to discover that Asami is more beautiful than Korra remembers.

She's leaning against the abandoned jeep they found, in the shade of the thrusting rocky fingers behind her. She holds up their canteen and turns it upside down. Not even a drop spills out.

"I guess I drank the last of it a while ago. Sorry."

Korra blinks again. "That's okay."

Asami smiles, almost...shyly. "Well...I didn't offer you any. It's rude, if nothing else. And we don't know how long we'll be waiting up here..."

Korra turns on the rock, facing Asami more fully. "It's...I'm not mad, Asami. Are you...thirsty? Are you actually worried?"

Asami quickly shakes her head, but she can't quite meet Korra's eye. "No, no! But...well, we can't risk going into town and tipping off Aiwei. It's fine. I'll wait."

Korra nods slowly. "Yeah...okay. I guess...waiting is all we can do."

She turns back, ready to resume her vigil. She pauses. Asami is fair-skinned. She doesn't complain, but this can't be a pleasant experience for her. Korra's no fan of the heat, either. And she is kinda thirsty.

They can't go into town. If Aiwei gives them the slip, they'll lose their chance to get Zaheer. And Korra can't lose that chance. She won't. 

But...she needs to do something. And she can. She can do something for Asami.

"Hey, Asami?"

She looks up at Korra. "Hmm?"

"Get that canteen ready."

She hops off the rock, and when her feet hit the ground, her eyes blaze with white light.

Korra reaches out, reaches down, into the sand and rock beneath her feet, deeper, lower, searching, calling.

Asami says, "What are you...?"

Korra says, " _What do you think? I'm waterbending in the desert, of course!_ "

Because that stupid town she's been staring at for the last stupid hour on top of that stupid rock has a well and, though it's sparse, there's vegetation growing on this stupid ridge and on the stupid sands between them and the town. So there's water under this stupid ridge and if it's there, Korra's going to find it.

Asami could be in a cool room in Republic City having her every need catered to, but she's here because she followed Korra, because she cares for Korra, and she kissed Korra two days ago and it was...so good. And Korra wanted more, before the attack, no...she _wants_ more, but she's afraid and because Korra is _stupid_ she's been avoiding talking to Asami about...anything but going after Zaheer.

And she still isn't sure how to do that, how to address what they are now, how to tell Asami how she feels, she's not sure _how_ she feels, but Korra needs to do something, and she can do this: she can make sure that Asami isn't thirsty.

There's water under the ridge. Deep under the ridge. And that water is supplying the town, and disrupting that could be dangerous, so when Korra finds it, she doesn't try to drag it up. She burrows down with earthbending, clearing a narrow channel through the rock, through the sand, and...there's life down there, too, plant roots and lizards and insects and Korra isn't going to hurt _them_ , so she doesn't dig straight down, but works around them.

It takes time. A lot of it. More than Korra expected, more than she has the attention to calculate, because this is _hard_ , it demands her full concentration, moving sand and earth and stone, burrowing, shoring up, digging deeper and deeper until...

" _There!_ "

Korra shifts into a waterbending stance and she summons some of the water below, bringing it up through layers of rock and sand, bringing it up in a trickle, rather than a flood.

Asami stoops and fills the canteen. She pauses and sets the canteen aside. She cups her hands and collects some of the water and drinks. She cups her hands and collects some of the water and lunges upright, grinning, and dashes the water at Korra's face.

Korra blinks. She drops out of the Avatar state and lets gravity reclaim the water for now. She brushes a few droplets from her brow.

"Asami...?"

Asami collects the canteen, still grinning, and takes a judicious step back. "Yes, Korra?"

Korra suddenly laughs. "Did you...are you seriously...? I'm a waterbender! You do _not_ want to splash-fight me!"

Asami laughs. "Maybe, maybe not! But...you're smiling. It's been a while..."

Korra's smile fades, but it isn't extinguished. She can still feel it on her lips and in her heart. "Yeah...I guess it has."

Asami holds up the canteen. "Thank you. That was...amazing."

And now Korra is blushing, too. "Nah, it's just...well, okay, it was tricky. And...I still need to put it all back."

Asami sits beside the jeep, leaning against one tyre. She pats the sand beside her. "Take a break. Drink. You need it."

And Korra does, so Korra does.

She sits with her shoulder against Asami's and accepts the canteen and drinks several long swallows before passing it back.

Asami accepts it with a nod. "You okay?"

Korra sighs, leaning her head against the side of the jeep and looking up at the clear blue sky. "No."

"Me neither."

Korra turns her head, and Asami's there, looking at her, so close their foreheads are almost touching.

Korra says, "Sorry. I've been...I'm sorry."

Asami smiles, then shifts, and their foreheads _are_ touching. It's too warm, and they're both sweating, but Korra doesn't even think of breaking contact, can't imagine losing this touch.

Asami says, softly, "Don't...go. Like that. The last two days...whatever else you need...whatever this is, or isn't...don't..."

She trails off, but it doesn't matter.

Because there's a place, under words, and in between them, a place words can't always reach, and that's where they are right now, Korra thinks, and that's the sort of place you can grow from, that's the sort of place where relationships can take root, deep down.

It's the sort of place that the wrong words or too many words can damage.

Korra has never kissed Asami. She does now, gently pressing her lips to Asami's cheek.

Asami sighs, relaxing against her.

That's how they agree to set down the weight they've been dragging between them since Zaheer's attack.

That's how they wait for Mako and Bolin: they hold hands, lean into each other and listen to each other breathing, more easily than before.

**Author's Note:**

> An update to Elements in Balance?! Whaaaat?
> 
> Okay, it's been a while since I left these two, and it might be a while before I get back to them in this series, but it hasn't been forgotten. And this isn't the best of times, and worse times are coming, but we know they'll make it through. 
> 
> We will, too.
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day.


End file.
